Visitations
by Edward the VIII
Summary: Death is only a season.
1. I

It wasn't like Sasuke to be late. He was never late. He was the golden boy, the person who was supposed to set an example for his rambunctious teammates. He. Was. Never. Late.

So why was he late today of all days?

Kakashi had sent him to find out.

To Sasuke's house—apartment, whatever it was. Kakashi had written the exact address onto his palm with a black marker, pointed him in a general direction, then sent him on his way.

He asked around a bit. 'Do you know where Uchiha Sasuke lives?' 'Do you know where Uchiha Sasuke lives?' 'Am I going in the right direction?' 'Do you know which street this is?'

Eventually, he found his way there.

No one would answer the door. He pounded and he pounded, he knocked politely, he even tried to peek through the crack at the bottom of the door to see if any lights were on. Nothing; not a peep, not even the scuff of a footstep on the other side.

He tried the windows, heading back out of the apartment complex and to the side, then funneling chakra to his legs to enable himself to leap up to the window. Those weren't locked—he pried one open, then slipped inside.

"Sasuke!" called the blonde boy. A break. "Sasuke!" he called again.

There was no answer. He stumbled around, turning on lights and peeking into windows, finding nothing until—

In Sasuke's bedroom, an older couple sat upon the end of his bed. There was a beautiful woman, with black hair and fair skin, though her beauty was marred by the fact that she was crying. An older man sat beside her, at least a decade her elder, and he seemed unable to do much aside from stare at the floor, an arm wrapped around his wife's shoulder.

Naruto blinked.

"Uh—do you two know where Sasuke is?"

There was a pause.

Slowly, both of them looked up at him. The woman was still crying; the man still looked lost. But what overtook both of those facts was the sheer surprise in their matching black eyes as they gazed at Naruto.

"You—you can see us…?" the woman whispered.

Naruto stared at them, a little perturbed.

"Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I be able to?"


	2. II

He was a quiet boy.

Some called him antisocial, others called him shy, but in reality, he just didn't want to talk. To anyone; to anything. He did not want to talk.

And on this day most of all he didn't want to speak a single word.

He wanted to be alone.

It dimly registered in his mind that he was 'skipping' training. But Kakashi would know. Kakashi wouldn't care. And even if he did, that didn't mean he himself had to care.

He went where he always went.

To where they rested.

Flowers clutched in his hand.

Heart thumping in his ear.

He smelled blood.

There were two people there.

Why—why were there two people there? Defiling his clan's rest with their presence. He wanted them gone.

He walked up behind them. A blonde man and a redheaded woman—it was with poorly restrained rage that he stopped just before them, their backs still to them. They had their arms slung around each other, they were talking.

"I still can't believe…" the woman was saying. There was a pause. "It feels like a dream."

"You've said that every year since they've gone," said the man. "It won't ever stop feeling that way."

The woman looked down; she let out a choked sob. "I know," she said. "I just wish— " Another choked sob. "That I could have said goodbye. That's all."

"I'm surprised Sasuke isn't here yet," the man murmured. He started to turn around. "He's usually here by no—oh, there he is... the poor boy."

The both of them turned around, blue and violet eyes staring at him. The woman was crying; the man's eyes looked a little watery. Yet it felt as if they were looking at him as if he weren't even there. Staring at him with sad eyes— _pity, pity, PITY._

He saw red.

"Leave," Sasuke snarled. "Get away from my clan."

They stared at him, dumbfounded, perplexed, surprised. He didn't care.

"Did you not hear me?" said the boy. "Leave."

It didn't register in his head that he'd seen this man before. That the woman standing before him, despite her red hair and violet lies unlike anyone else, seemed vaguely familiar.

"You… you can see us…" the woman whispered.

"I can," Sasuke muttered. "But I'd rather see you gone."

He ignored them after that. He tried to nudge them aside, but nothing happened—his hand passed right through the woman's shoulder, the man's chest. Coldness seeped across his body like a sickness.

"Leave!" he roared. Why weren't they going, why couldn't they just leave him alone! To use some sort of jutsu so he couldn't shove them out of his way himself… what were they trying to accomplish?

The woman opened her mouth, but the man stopped her.

"Kushina, don't," he said. A pause. "Let him mourn," the blonde muttered to the woman named Kushina, hardly loud enough for Sasuke to hear. "We can investigate tomorrow."

Kushina frowned.

"... ok," she mumbled.

Sasuke had returned to ignoring them. He had fallen onto his knees, laying the flowers in front of the tombstones, desperately trying to make them as aesthetic as possible. On the chiseled marble shone the words—'Uchiha Mikoto', and beside it, 'Uchiha Fugaku'.

Kushina and her husband watched Sasuke for a moment; they were silent, perhaps from shock, or perhaps in respect for the boy who had lost so much.

They turned and walked away.


	3. III

When Naruto met up with his team once more, it didn't take a jounin to see that something had happened. His tan skin had been leached of color, making him look unnaturally pale. His blue eyes were even more unnaturally wide—his demeanor was limp and downcast.

"Naruto?" said a pink haired girl, who stood about five meters in front of him, her big green eyes looking him up and down and taking in all the aforementioned details.

"Uh, Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto mumbled. The silver haired man was right beside the pink haired girl, a book in his hand though his eyes weren't moving to actually read the pages. "I—I don't think Sasuke's coming to train today."

"Oh, I know." Kakashi looked at Naruto and the blonde shivered. "I just wanted you to know as well, Naruto." A pause. "You two can go home now," said Kakashi. "No training today."

The pink haired girl looked between the two of them, confused.

"I want to know what's going on," she said quietly.

Kakashi patted her on the shoulder. "Walk with me and I'll tell you," he said. And they set off, leaving Naruto.

But they didn't leave him alone.

Naruto turned toward them—when Kakashi and his other teammate were out of ear-shot, he could only just barely keep his eyes from tearing up.

"You're—you're both supposed to be dead," he said. "Sasuke—he's grieving for you two right now."

"We know," said the woman. The man—her husband—stood beside her.

They had explained to him all they knew. That they had both met a grizzly fate, and then had miraculously come back—but not alive. They were in-between, dead and alive, lingering on the mortal plain. No one could see them; they could see everyone.

For five years, they'd trailed in their youngest son's footsteps. For five years, they'd been forced to watch as he grew up without his parents. Without his elder brother. Without his clan.

Alone.

And then they told him the truth. That today was the anniversary of their deaths.

That brought them to here; to now.

"Why haven't I been able to see you before today?" Naruto asked. "I—you said that you've followed after Sasuke. I would have seen you sometime, somewhere… heard you… sensed you. Yet, I didn't."

"I don't know," said the woman. "We hardly know anything."

"It could simply be destiny," her husband said. "But regardless, that means only one thing. You and you alone are our only tie to the living world."

The woman stepped forward. She made to take Naruto's hands into her own, but they passed through him—Naruto shuddered, and when he stepped back, his breath felt icy.

The woman paused. But the words were still on her lips.

"My name is Mikoto; Uchiha Mikoto," the woman said. "This is my husband, Uchiha Fugaku."

She swallowed.

"Uzumaki Naruto… you—you are our only hope of ever talking to our son again." She stared at him imploringly, tears beginning to fall from her dark eyes once more. "Please, please help us."


	4. IV

That day, he was noticeably subdued. Kakashi noticed it; Sakura noticed it. Even Naruto seemed to notice it—the blonde glanced at him a little too often to be normal.

He didn't care.

Kakashi had 'disciplined' him for 'missing' training the previous day. Which ended up just being a little extra work to do compared to the other two. He did it without a single complaint passing his lips.

They went home early that day.

As he slipped back into his apartment, Sasuke sensed something was amiss. The door wasn't unlocked; the windows weren't open. Nothing had been moved. But the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

He slid a hand into the pouch strapped to his thigh, grasping onto several shuriken.

Room to room he went. Carefully, slowly.

It happened that whoever he was looking for wasn't hiding at all. Rather, the both of them were standing rather inconspicuously in the middle of his bedroom.

"You two again," Sasuke murmured. "What do you want?"

They seemed surprised.

"You're not reacting quite as… violently as yesterday," noted the blonde man.

Sasuke's nostrils flared. "Both of you know exactly why I—"

The words never left his lips.

He gazed at this man, this tall blonde man standing beside his beautiful, redheaded wife.

Sasuke saw the blue eyes, the blonde hair, the fair skin. He saw the features chiseled into the mountain that hung above the village. He saw the face that was printed in every history textbook he'd ever been assigned to read.

"Yondaime."

It was a simple word, but much meaning it carried.

Namikaze Minato grinned.

"I was beginning to think the village had forgotten about me," he said, eyes twinkling. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Uchiha Sasuke. This is my wife—Uzumaki Kushina."

"Uzumaki."

Sasuke inhaled deeply.

"I can see it now," said Sasuke, staring at Kushina. "Your face. You share so many similarities with Naruto that I can't believe I didn't see it yesterday." His ebony eyes had turned red—the Sharingan was simply confirming what he already knew. "You're his mother."

Kushina nodded. "That I am."

The Uchiha looked at Minato.

"And you—you must be his father," Sasuke continued.

Minato nodded.

But then, they hit the inevitable wall.

"The two of you are—should be—dead," Sasuke murmured. "We visited your grave at least a dozen times on class field trips back in the academy," he said to Minato.

"We are dead." Kushina's voice wavered a little as she said those words.

"Then why are you here?" Sasuke frowned. "Why am I talking to you both right now?"

Minato and Kushina exchanged a glance.

"I can't answer that question, I'm afraid," Minato said. "I know a lot of things, but unfortunately, my knowledge of ghosts and the afterworld is… limited."

"There is something we wanted to ask you, though," said Kushina. "You would be doing us—and your village—the greatest of favors by doing this."

Sasuke's frown only deepened. "... what do you want from me?" he muttered.

"You are our only link to our son," Minato whispered.

"Please," Kushina said. "Help him."

The Uchiha looked between the two of them.

"What do you mean 'help him'?" questioned Sasuke.

"I mean—" Kushina sucked in a deep breath; it was a struggle of will for her to not be crying then and there. "Help him... please... help to stop him from being so alone all the time. _Please_ ," she begged.

There was a slight pause, though it seemed to stretch for an eternity.

Sasuke's brow furrowed.

"Why should I?" was his response.

Shock, needless to say, was the only answer Kushina and Minato could muster to that.


	5. V

But fate was not that simple.

He tried.

Oh, how he tried.

For hours, he rehearsed exactly what he wanted to say. The words were on his tongue as he showed up early to training for the first time. Sasuke was there; Sakura ought to show up before long. He didn't have much time.

He walked up to Sasuke. He looked him dead in the eye.

"I can—"

As if a sudden force had suddenly clamped around his throat, Naruto seized up.

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly.

Especially as Naruto fell to the ground, still, in vein, trying to speak. He was clawing at his throat.

"What are you doing, moron?" muttered Sasuke.

He couldn't talk. The words wouldn't—refused to come out. He felt as if he were being strangled. Only when he stopped trying to talk did the sensation stop.

The blonde lay there, gasping and wheezing. Sasuke looked down upon him.

Just then, Sakura came bounding up. "Good morning, Sasuke-kun~!" she cooed. A brief pause, then: "Why are you on the ground, Naruto? Are you alright?"

"I'm… fine…" Naruto groaned, climbing to his feet. "Just—" He froze up for a second. "Working on my acting skills. Pretty good, huh?" He flashed the pink haired girl a grin.

"Uh huh," said Sakura, looking as convinced as the wife of a pathological liar.

Training was long and rough that day. Naruto tried—unsuccessfully—several more times to talk to Sasuke about what he could see, but each and every time it would fail miserably. It was a hopeless endeavor.

As he walked away from the training grounds, two figures loomed in front of him.

In spite of it all, they were smiling.

"I tried," Naruto whispered.

"We know you did," said Mikoto.

"That's all we could have asked for," Fugaku supplemented.

Naruto lowered his head.

"I guess whatever lets me talk to you guys… doesn't want Sasuke to know that," the blonde murmured. His fingers brushed against his throat. "There was nothing I could do. The second I even thought about talking about you two, it felt like I was about to die."

"It's alright," Mikoto assured him. "We watched you try; we believe you. If it didn't work, well, it's not your fault and it's not our fault." She chuckled darkly. "That's just how the fates want it to work out, I suppose." She paused. "Where are you going?"

"To Ichiraku's," said Naruto.

"That old ramen shop? No."

Her voice was so firm that it caught him off guard.

"What'd you mean 'no'?" Naruto asked.

"You're filthy," Mikoto continued.

Fugaku grimaced beside her. Back when they'd—well, still been alive, Mikoto had always flipped into a sort of 'mother-hen' mode whenever she was trying to cover up something.

In this case, it was her trying to cover up her feelings of sorrow. And disappointment.

Not that Naruto knew that.

"Hey, I'm not…"

He drifted off.

"Go home and get a shower, and a fresh change of clothes," Mikoto instructed him. "And if after that you'd still like to go to Ichiraku's, then you may go."

Naruto lowered his head. "... fine…" he mumbled, stalking away, Mikoto well aware of the fact that he'd follow through with what she had said.

When he was out of ear-shot, that was when her control snapped.

She fell to the ground, sobbing.

"I thought—I thought we would be able to talk to him…" she whimpered.

"I know," Fugaku said.

"M-maybe we'd help him… he's so alone… so full of a-anger… hate…" Her sobs were heart-wrenching. "But we can't. We can't talk to him. He can't hear us, he can't—" She broke off into a fresh round of sobs, the rest of her words unintelligible.


	6. VI

"... what…?" Kushina whispered, after several moment's pause.

Sasuke huffed, folding his arms across his chest.

"You heard exactly what I said." His dark eyes were expressionless.

They didn't say anything. What could they say in response to that?

After a few seconds, Sasuke turned on the balls of his feet and calmly walked out of the room. Kushina and Minato watched him go.

He paused in the kitchen.

He lowered his head.

His fingers curled into balls at his side.

How—how dare they ask him that. To help that 'poor boy'.

Where had been his help? His aid? His guardian angel? He didn't get one. Why should Naruto? Why should Naruto get the comfort he'd so desperately needed after the death of his clan? Why should he—

Sasuke sucked in a deep breath. Eyes watery, he sat down at his kitchen table.

His hands shook at his side.

He was livid. All he could see was red.

It was with fury in his eyes that Sasuke put his sandals back on; he—he needed to go on a walk. Or something. He needed to cool off… to relax. Otherwise, he'd do something he regretted.

The last Uchiha stalked out of his apartment, not even bothering to lock the door behind him.

But as he made his way out onto the street, a certain pair of ghosts headed him off.

"Sasuke," Minato said, stepping in front of him. Consciously, Sasuke knew that he could simply step through the blonde—at the same time, the man still seemed to present a physical barrier.

The street was quiet. Deserted. They were alone.

"Yes?" He responded mildly, though his tone was low.

Minato's eyes narrowed. Kushina was right beside him.

"I'm asking you this as your Hokage…" the blonde murmured. "Tell our son about us. Make up some excuse, if you have to. Tell him what we look like, how we act… I want him to know us, as much as possible. This is not a request, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke stared up at the man.

"As my Hokage," he mouthed.

Minato nodded.

"Very well," said Sasuke. "I'll do it."

Grudgingly, perhaps, but he would still go through it.

Except he met the same exact problem as Naruto did. Minus the theatrics, perhaps, butt still—he tried to talk to the blonde the next day after training, and received nothing but a sore throat for his troubles. Minato and Kushina could only watch in despair as their last chance at communicating, albeit indirectly, with their son vanished.

Sasuke looked rather surly as he walked away from the training grounds, alone aside from the ghosts on his flank, the both of them stunned into silence.

"It seems that whatever gave me the power to see you two… did not want anyone else to know that fact," Sasuke murmured.

There was nothing more to it then that.


	7. VII

The Chunin Exams loomed over him like a monster with a spike for a tail and extraordinarily sharp teeth.

Was he ready for this? He had to be.

His two ghostly companions weren't making it any easier on him, though.

"I remember my Chunin Exams," said Fugaku vaguely.

"Oh God," Mikoto said, exasperated. "I've heard this one a thousand times."

Fugaku looked affronted.

Naruto, however, appeared interested. "Go on," he said, fingers gripping his knees tightly.

The deceased Uchiha patriarch shot his wife a smirk.

"It was quite a long time in past; far before you were born," Fugaku began. "It was organized into three stages. The first stage… it's been so long I hardly remember it. In any case, it was not noteworthy." He paused. "The second stage required us to take a pair of bells from a jounin."

"Really?" Naruto grinned slightly. "That's what I had to do to become a genin. Well, sorta, but that was the main idea."

"It was an effective way to build teamwork," Fugaku told him. "I wouldn't be surprised if jounin nowadays had adapted some of the more effective tests from the Chunin Exams of years passed. Regardless, the third stage was different from both of them."

"How?" asked Naruto.

"Back then was a dark time. War and poverty and civil strife were rampant. There was no room for softness—if you were to become a chunin, you had to be strong. The exams back them prompted a small break in the wars… all five villages would send their candidates, under the guise that they would be protected from harm in all instances outside of the exams. However, it was an unspoken rule that if a genin happened to be wounded—or worse—during the exams, then it was fair game."

Naruto's stomach sunk.

"The final stage was a series of one on one duels. If you were paired against someone from Konoha or Suna, it was a simple fight until the other person conceded defeat. However, if you were paired against someone from a village other than those three… it was a fight to the—"

"Stop," Mikoto cut in.

Fugaku blinked.

All the color had been leached from Naruto's skin. He looked paler than his ghostly companions.

"That was a long time ago, Naruto," said Mikoto. She would have put a reassuring hand on his shoulder if she didn't know it would go right through. "Times are different now. You won't have to kill a fly let alone another person in your exams—I promise."

Naruto took a deep breath.

"He had me worried for a second there," muttered the blonde. "I swore my heart skipped a beat." He wiped a bead of sweat off of his forehead. He looked down at the paper in his hand—the form he had to fill out in order to officially sign up for the exams. "Might as well go ahead and get it over with," he mumbled to himself.

"You'll do great," Mikoto said encouragingly. "I'll be happy to call both you and my son chunin in due time."

Naruto grinned as he began to fill out the form.


	8. VIII

"Come on! They teach number one to everybody in the academy. It's practically a freebie! The answer's B, just write it down, c'mon!"

"Give it a rest, Kushina…" Minato grumbled. "He can't hear you."

Sasuke rubbed his forehead, a headache or worse blossoming in his temple. These two hadn't given him a moment of quiet since the 'exam' had begun.

Which was a problem. He needed concentration—not to actually do the exam, heavens no, but he needed concentration to properly use his Sharingan to cheat on the test. As the makers of the exam had probably intended.

He was still a relative novice with the Sharingan after all. Copying down someone's hand movements in order to emulate their answers was a breeze, but it was considerably more difficult with a feisty redhead shouting only a few meters behind you.

" _SHE HAS ALL THE RIGHT ANSWERS_! She's giving you the opportunity to cheat off of her! Take it, just take the offer!"

He rubbed his forehead once more.

The time allotted for them to take the test went by faster than he could process. Before long, the heavily disfigured jounin who was overseeing the exam had stepped back up to the front.

His brief spiel about the final question left Sasuke unimpressed.

 _'Never take the Chunin exams again, huh?'_ he thought. _'Then I suppose I'll just have to get the question right.'_

The Uchiha glanced toward a certain blonde.

 _'Let's just hope he keeps his nerve.'_

However, the way Naruto's teeth were gritted didn't exactly inspire confidence in Sasuke.

Sasuke's fingers tapped on the desk. He waited, stewing with nerves, as team after team filed out of the room when one of their own couldn't stand the pressure anymore.

Sakura held strong; good. Naruto was hanging in there. Sasuke's hand curled into a ball.

Naruto ended up making some stupid outburst—Sasuke ignored most of it. Actually, he was a little peeved; why on Earth would he try to inspire their opponents with the confidence to not forfeit then and there? The less competition, the better. Not that Naruto seemed to realize that.

Then, the penny dropped.

Just by not giving up, they'd passed the first stage of the Chunin Exams.

For the first time in what seemed an eternity, Sasuke smiled. He kept his head down so no one else would see it, but it was there.

Now it was time to worry about the second stage...


	9. IX

"The Forest of Death? Surely they can't be serious." Mikoto's lips pressed together, worry lines marring her beautiful features.

"There have been exams conducted in there before," Fugaku said. "And casualties were kept to a minimum if I remember correctly."

"To a minimum?! Do you even hear what you're saying?" Mikoto stared at her husband, wide-eyed. "And that was when we were at war… under constant threat of invasion! We had to go to those sort of lengths in order to protect ourselves and ready them for what was to come. But these kids have never even seen a war; there's a chance they may _never_ see one. I don't see the purpose in spoiling their innocence by throwing them into a place like that."

Fugaku shrugged in an uncommitted way.

"For all the discussion we could have about the topic, there's absolutely nothing we can do about it." His tone was firm. "And there's no need to frighten the poor boy, either."

Naruto had the resist the urge to stare at them. Really, he was doing a remarkably good job of keeping calm—only a skilled shinobi would notice the tremor in his hand.

He couldn't exactly talk so openly to them. He was standing right beside Sasuke and Sakura, after all. They had been handed their scrolls and were now waiting to be directed to which gate they would enter at. Five days and five nights was how long they'd spend in that place. He hoped they wouldn't have to spend a second longer then that… even from way outside, the forest gave him the chills.

Naruto was oh-so-curious. And Fugaku and Mikoto seemed to know a little about the forest itself. But how could he ask them without looking like a lunatic?

An idea struck.

Purposefully, the blonde made direct eye contact with Fugaku. Then he loudly cleared his throat and asked his team: "What kind of stuff do y'all think we'll see in there, anyway?"

Sasuke and Sakura's reactions were predictable. The former said nothing and remained passive; the latter shrugged, biting her lip with anxiety.

The purpose of his question hadn't been for their answers though.

"Ah." The very corner of Fugaku's lip quirked up. "I see."

"Hm?" Mikoto tilted her head slightly.

"Naruto, many of the creatures in the forest are _immensely_ dangerous. Blood-sucking leeches, hungry predators. Your best course of action is to stick with your team, swiftly eliminate another team, and get out of there as soon as humanly possible. The more time you spend in the Forest, the more likely you are to be eliminated or worse."

Naruto's face hardened slightly. "I hope it's not too dangerous," he said, to Sakura and Sasuke but not _to_ them. "I mean, there isn't anything in there that can kill us or whatever, right? That purple haired freak was just trying to scare us."

Once more, Sakura shrugged and Sasuke said nothing.

But, once more, their answer wasn't what Naruto was looking for.

"There's plenty in there that can and will kill you if you don't take this seriously, Naruto," Fugaku continued. "And no, she wasn't trying to scare you. She was honest, which is a rarity amongst examiners I assure you."

Naruto gulped.

* * *

The gates clanged open, rusty metal yearning in the eerie silence.

Team 7—Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. They stood there for the briefest of moments, staring into the depths of the forest that awaited them. To Naruto's side were Mikoto and Fugaku, who looked more than solemn.

"Let's go!" Naruto shouted.

And then they sprang into action. Sprinting at top-speed, sandals slapping against dirt and leaving a cloud of dust behind them.

* * *

Being kidnapped on his _first day_ in the forest hadn't been in Naruto's plan.

He struggled against his bonds uselessly, but it was to no avail. Whoever had done this—he couldn't recognize the little symbol on the guy's headband—had made sure he wouldn't escape.

Mikoto and Fugaku had tried to warn him, but he'd been a little too focused on… 'ridding himself' of the quart of soda he'd had before the exam.

Needless to say, there wasn't much he could do as he heard Sasuke and Sakura talking to the Fake Naruto.

His team was wise, though. They caught onto the act. They fought off the Fake Naruto and eventually freed the real one.

They crouched in a forest clearing, forming a small triangle. Naruto rubbed his wrists, muttering incoherent obscenities under his breath.

"We can't let that happen again," said Sasuke. "We're just lucky that guy was an idiot and didn't know how to disguise himself properly." He sucked in a deep breath. "Let's come up with a code, something only the three of us know. If we get separated again, we can use that code to ensure the other isn't an imposter."

"Sounds good," Sakura and Naruto choursed.

Sasuke proceeded to say the 'code' outloud.

Naruto could barely remember a word of it five seconds later. But he didn't want to make himself look stupid by asking Sasuke to repeat it either, so, he elected to remain quiet. All he had to do was stay with his team… right?

Right.

Too bad it seemed another team had other plans.

Mikoto and Fugaku's eyes widened; even in their spiritual state they were still jounin, and they sensed it coming before Naruto did.

"Look out!" Mikoto shouted.

It was too late.

A large—no, _enormous_ gust of wind caught them by surprise. Naruto felt it lift him off of his feet.

Like tumbleweeds in a desert storm, Team 7 was thrown asunder. Naruto didn't black out, but his vision turned so blurry and his head became so cloudy that he hardly knew what was going on...

* * *

"Ugh."

Naruto clambered to his feet, rubbing a swollen spot on his head.

He looked around. Mikoto and Fugaku were there, at his side, but he was more focused on finding his team.

"Sasuke?" called the blonde. "Sakura? Where are you guys?"

His voice echoed off into the thicket, bouncing from tree to tree, yet finding no answer.

"Do you guys know where they are?" Naruto said quietly to the two ghosts.

Mikoto nodded. "Fugaku stayed with you while I went and made sure Sasuke and the girl were alright. They're that way," she said, pointing in a direction that looked the exact same as any other. He would have been utterly lost if he was on his own.

"Awesome," Naruto mumbled. "Let's get going, then—"

Mikoto and Fugaku _froze_.

A moment later, so did Naruto.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end; goosebumps coated every inch of his skin. He turned at least half a dozen shades more pale.

Slowly, he turned.

An enormous snake hovered over him.

Naruto stared at it, wide-eyed.

"Oh, shit—"

He tried to dodge to the side, but it was too late. Mikoto and Fugaku stared in shock.

The snake bent low and swallowed him whole.


End file.
